One Step Higher Than Rivalry
by Eiprej
Summary: When she wakes up, all she notices is the living, breathing body of a red-head next to her and the brilliant, shining blue glow of her Soul Gem sitting on the nightstand. -KyouSaya-


**A/N: Augh, I should really be working on other things right now. Like other actual stories I have to update. Instead, I end up writing up some more KyouSaya. I swear, I have never been more in love with a couple then I am with this one. Asdfghjkl;  
The hilarious thing with this fic is that I actually had this written out months ago. The only downside was that I had never finished it, but I realized that to finish it I only had to add in just a few more paragraphs. So, after reading it over, I decided that I was going to finish this and post it up at least. And here was the result. I wouldn't say this is fluffy, but it's certainly not insanely angsty, I think. Well, I hope you enjoy this little oneshot.**

**-0-**

_/When she wakes up, all she notices is the living, breathing body of a red-head next to her and the brilliant, shining blue glow of her Soul Gem sitting on the nightstand./_

The sound of deep, slow breathes and rustling sheets greet Sayaka when she wakes up. The blue haired girl slowly falls out of her haze of sleep, nestled uncomfortably against coarse, rough blankets. It's that sensation that drags her quicker out of the groggy hold of exhaustion. Yet it's the sudden feeling of skin pressing against her arm that makes her eyes snap open. Her own bedsheets weren't scratchy and rough; they were soft and warm. she sleeps curled up next to a teddy bear; _not _something fleshy that breathes and moves and - oh, _god_, is that an arm wrapping around her waist?

Sayaka allows herself to inwardly panic.

She's afraid to look up and see, and she ends up sucking in a sharp breath, her naked ( naked? When did that happen? ) stomach flattening more as a result. At the gesture, the arm moves again and curls around her, a body following it. Sayaka's heartbeat quickens. She's naked. _They're _naked. Suddenly, the person's body is pressed flush against her's and she squeezes her eyes closed tightly, short, sporadic breathes leaving her throat as she attempts to calm down and just... just remember.

" Sayaka..." The coarse, sleep filled yet familiar voice is all it takes for the girl's memory to jog.

-0-

Yesterday. Yesterday she had been fighting a witch carelessly, allowing the witches painful pincers to stab into her body. Just when the witch had gone to land a stab through her heart, that annoying, _annoying _Puella Magi had just come and whisked her away from the battle, dumping her on the floor and barking at her to stay while she finished off the witch herself.

Sayaka had actually stayed, taking the time to heal herself, slowly and cautiously. Her teeth had been gritted and irritation practically dripped from her at Kyouko's sudden "save".

She thought it was selfish. She thought Kyouko just wanted her out of the battle so she could gain the grief seed herself.

Kyouko was only trying to save her, and she still hadn't seen that.

The red-haired female had tried to shove some sense into her after the battle was all good and done. she had rudely thrown the grief seed at Sayaka, the metal smacking gently off of her arm and falling on the grass next to her. "What the hell is your problem? Trying to get yourself killed or something?" She had snapped, watching Sayaka stare at the metal item before smacking it away from herself, as if she didn't want it. Dull eyes had stared at Kyouko.

"I don't need a reward. Unlike people like you, I'm a Magi who works for _others._" Kyouko had glanced at her in disbelief. The girl was still hung up on the entire justice thing, wasn't she? She bit down hard on her Pocky stick to keep from growling.

"Get up, dumbass. Look at your Soul Gem." The request was rough and Sayaka took her own time in standing up, stabbing her sword into the ground to serve as an aid. Kyouko had only watched on in half awe and half worry at the sight of Sayaka's nearly buckling legs. Both pairs of eyes had flickered down to look at the blue gem on her belly button. Kyouko had ground her teeth together at the sight of the murky blue color, clouded darkly with streams of black. Red eyebrows had furrowed and said Magi had taken a few steps forward, picking up the grief seed on her way.

Kyouko had reached forward to press it against the gem. In all honesty, if Sayaka wasn't willing to cleanse it herself then Kyouko would do it for her, whether she liked it or not. Just as she had reached over to press it against the dirty blue, a hand forcefully smacked her's away, knocking the grief seed out of her palm. Kyouko had only regarded Sayaka's actions with shock and irritation. "I already told you, I don't want a reward, especially if it's from your filthy hands." Her words might have been sharp, if it weren't for the dull, lifeless way they were said.

White, hot fury suddenly flooded Kyouko's senses. Hands grabbing the white fabric of Sayaka's cape tightly, she had jerked the idiot towards her. Sayaka had only retaliated weakly in her grasp, and just quick enough to send a fist Kyouko's way. It didn't fail to catch the red-head off guard though, and the cape slipped through her fingers before her hand was curled into a fist and it was sent flying right into Sayaka's temple.

The weak girl collapsed into Kyouko's waiting arms.

"Idiot." The girl hadn't wanted any time in catching her, securely locking her arms around the despair-filled Puella Magi and hoisting her up and off the ground. Sayaka seemed about ready to fight again but with snarl, she shut up and slumped against her "captor". The will to fight had already been slipping away and she briefly wondered if Kyouko had felt it too. Her "rival" had then walked with her down a few roads, and before it came across Sayaka's numb mind to ask where they had been headed, Kyouko stopped in front of a beat up inn. Sayaka only weakly jerked in her arms when Kyouko took her inside.

"What..." Her unfinished sentence slipped out when Kyouko dropped her ungracefully on the bed in her hotel room. It really _was _as run down as it looked. The walls were peeling slightly, technology old and outdated and even the beds were uncomfortable and irritable. She went to take a stand, only to have Kyouko's hand come resting on her face and shoving her back down. "Damn, can't you just stay?"

She had taken the time to watch Kyouko walk away from the bed, lazily throwing her Soul Gem onto the chipped, wooden drawer in the room. The infamous blue jacket was unzipped and then stripped off, only to be thrown onto the ground in a wrinkled pile. Sayaka couldn't find it in her to sit up from the bed, her body sinking into the cheap mattress, eyes watching Kyouko pull her hair free from the black bow on her head. She could see the girl then bend down and searched through her jacket pockets for something, and the item she retrieved wasn't too identifiable anyways, covered by her palm.

Kyouko advanced towards the bed again. Much to Sayaka's surprise, she only fell onto the bed, laying down beside said girl, gaze locked on the ceiling. Sayaka heard a ruffling noise and realized that Kyouko was only opening up a bag of chips, and soon after came the crunching noise of her chewing. "You gonna stay in that?" Kyouko suddenly questioned, voice muffled as she spoke with her mouth full. "It looks pretty damn uncomfortable, if you ask me." A gulp, and then a turn of Kyouko's head had Sayaka's mild attention.

Sayaka's mind turned. Kyouko wasn't acting hostile, and the fact that she wasn't snapping at Sayaka… Kyouko's gaze still hadn't slipped from her, staring at the obvious Puella Magi outfit and waiting for Sayaka to take action for it. Not that it was even her business in the first place. Sayaka hesitantly let the magic slip away, school uniform replacing the knight esque outfit.

"Why did you bring me here?"

Kyouko didn't give her a reply. Instead, the sound of the plastic bag crunching resounded in the room, followed by the sound of another bag of chips being ripped open. Sayaka only turned to look at her when a few minutes of silence passed. Or, at least, it _would_be called silence if it weren't for Kyouko's insistent munching. "You know..." Kyouko suddenly said aloud. She seemed to offer the bag to Sayaka in a subtle movement, placing it next to the bluenette. Sayaka gave it a cautious stare.

"You stole." She stated as if it were the most significant thing ever. "I refuse."

"That's your problem." Kyouko didn't bother to let anger creep into her again. The words didn't hold any meaning to her anymore. The only thing that interested her was the fact that Sayaka had enough... _idiocy _to continue to have those words come out stronger then her other dull comebacks. "What?" Sayaka muttered back, furrowing her brows.

"I said," Kyouko took the moment to snatch the bag back from where she had placed it, next to Sayaka. "That's your problem."

Sayaka gritted her teeth. She made no effort to move, and Kyouko took that as silent acceptance. Then again, she had to hold back a bark of bitter laughter at the thought. No, Sayaka wasn't the type to just accept something like that. Not if it was from Kyouko's mouth, badmouthing her petty facade as the knight of "justice". The blue haired girl must have known what kind of position she was in right now. She was a fighter, but not entirely idiotic enough - much to Kyouko's surprise - to try and attack the red-head now.

Just before Sayaka could try and come up with another stupid excuse about justice and right and wrong - shit Kyouko didn't want to hear, no, not again - Kyouko cut her off easily. The red-head propped herself up on her elbows, before letting the bag of chips drop from her grasp to show the black metal of a grief seed. "If you keep having a black and white view of the world, you're going to get all kinds of fucked up. And when you react so strongly to such little, petty things..." Kyouko had no qualms with mentioning the violinist. For a minute she saw rage flash in Sayaka's souless eyes, and the thought that she had managed to put some emotion in them...

Suddenly, the red-haired teen was knocked off balance when Sayaka's forehead suddenly slammed against her's. She cried out in a loud string of curses, before realizing that Sayaka had propped herself up on her elbows abruptly, causing the proximity between the two to close in a painful head collision. "Shut up." Sayaka's tone had deepened to a snarl and Kyouko held back a growl, fierce red clashing against cold blue. "What do you know about pain anyways, huh? Since when could a delinquent like you even understand-?"

Something flashed in Kyouko's eyes and Sayaka didn't have enough time to react when the other girl was suddenly on top of her. Sayaka felt her head spin just as it hit the creaky bed, hard with the force of Kyouko's rough shove. Blue eyes opened to stare defiantly at the other girl, only to be stopped at what she saw. Deep in the usually red, uncaring orbs, there were flickers of immediate pain and it made her stare at Kyouko in silence.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Kyouko's snarl was thick and furious, laced with a particularly choked undertone that Sayaka thought she had imagined. _Now_ Sayaka's sure that this is the most emotion she's ever seen from her, aside from the obnoxious, fanged grin and disappointed sighs that didn't really hold any true concern.

"…no." Sayaka said, although it was drawled and seemed to lose all of the fight it once had. "No, no, no. I don't. I _can't._" Sayaka continued to repeat in slow chants, shaking her head. She was trying to convince herself, wasn't she? It wasn't for Kyouko anymore. She was so afraid of losing herself. She was so afraid of going under, not realizing that maybe, _maybe_ it was just too late.

"It's not fair…" The words were seethed, a cold undercurrent running through them. Her words were a jumbled mess now, blue gaze anywhere but on the girl currently straddling her lap. She didn't think she could handle looking into red eyes that shone with sympathy. Sympathy was the last thing she needed, damn it…

Kyouko wasn't speaking anymore and Sayaka didn't know if her former enemy was waiting for her to continue making a fool of herself. A slow breath was sucked in, and Sayaka slowly moved her gaze back to Kyouko. The sight she met made something slowly snap inside of her. There was something so very unreadable in Kyouko's eyes and it bothered her. She could see herself in them and a sudden sob was leaving her lips and she jerked slightly, not really intent on getting away from Kyouko, seeing as she soon relaxed after. Turning her head and pressing it against the pillow, she let out a heartbreaking sob, opening her mouth to speak.

The silence from the girl didn't quite help, although the sensation of Kyouko's nose against her hair was shocking and she did not a single thing to stop it. "Stupid. Idiot. Fool." She felt Kyouko's breath against her skin, and she briefly wondered how they got this close. Then, a moment after, she realized she didn't quite care anymore.

"Show me, then." And her hands weakly wrapped around her companion's neck.

Kyouko found herself complying.

-0-

All that, leading up to this one single moment. All of that stupid and heated fighting, only for her to wake up alongside her rival – naked nonetheless, _naked – _with a painful, choking panic rising in her heart. Finally, her eyes focus on another out of place detail. A crumpled grief seed is resting on the nightstand next to her, unable to withstand the copious amounts of grief forced into it. Sayaka only has enough time to wonder for a second, before her gaze travels along the nightstand and she spots it.

It's actually hard to miss the brilliantly blue light of her own Soul Gem.

**-0-**

**A/N; There's actually supposed to be quite a lot more to this, but… I thought it would be best to just end it here, after rereading it a couple of times. I couple probably add in a bit more, but I'm unsure of it. You tell me what you think ;v; If it's fine as it is, then I'll just leave it be.  
I just hope you guys enjoyed this oneshot I found sitting around. Alerts and favs are appreciated, reviews are ah-mazing.  
Kudos to myself for the terrible title. Hey, I've never been too good with those.**


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